By the end of this year, the Italian company Leonardo will conduct the first operational tests in Ukraine of the Michelangelo Dome air-defence system.
The company’s chief executive, Lorenzo Mariani, said this, Euronews reports Euronews.
In the first phase, under real combat conditions, the shield’s counter-drone component will be tested. For Leonardo, this is an opportunity to validate the technologies ahead of larger-scale NATO exercises planned for 2027.
The development of the Michelangelo Dome was officially unveiled in March this year. It is a complex that brings together sensors, platforms and defensive capabilities in the air, on land, at sea, in space and in cyberspace.
The system uses artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to create a “dome” capable of neutralising threats ranging from drone swarms to hypersonic missiles and cyberattacks.
The Italian company estimates the project’s potential at €21bn over ten years. In May, the company also registered a firm in Kyiv, Leonardo Ukraine.
The company expects that, provided approvals are secured quickly, the structure will be able to begin operating at full capacity from 1 January 2028.